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Ottawa LRT inspection reports paint picture of a work in progress

Author of the article:

Jon Willing

Publishing date:

August 29, 2017 • 4 minute read

The Confederation Line LRT construction has produced several non-conformance reports, including some related to work at the maintenance and storage facility on Belfast Road. The deficiencies are documented and fixed.Tony Caldwell/ Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun

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Dozens of inspection reports documenting deficiencies, such as bad welds and crummy workmanship, illustrate the quality control in effect during the construction of Ottawa’s LRT line.

The Citizen reviewed 64 “non-conformance” reports produced during audits of construction along the LRT line. The city sent the documents to researcher Ken Rubin after he made an access-to-information request for all reports produced in 2015 and 2016. He is still seeking more records.

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Such reports are common in the construction industry as builders’ work is inspected to ensure its quality.

Non-conformance reports — hundreds have been produced on the LRT project — can be made by the quality-control experts working either for the private contractors or for the city. Substantially more will be produced by the construction firm itself, said Steve Cripps, the city’s director of O-Train construction.

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According to Cripps, non-conformance doesn’t always relate to the physical construction of the LRT line. A report could be generated if someone forgot to follow a process, such as sending documentation to a department.

“When the system works right, it’s not supposed to be the city being Big Brother, saying, ‘I caught you and I’m issuing a non-conformance report.’ It should be all parties catching things and correcting them,” Cripps said.

It might seem odd, meanwhile, to have the contractor inspect its own labour and issue deficiency reports, but Cripps said that’s how quality management works.

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Cripps said when the contractor doesn’t agree with a city-identified deficiency, the disagreement can be dealt with by different levels of the organizations. In the worst-case scenario, the disagreement goes to a formal dispute resolution process, which hasn’t yet happened with the Ottawa LRT.

During an inspection of an architectural concrete mock-up at Cyrville station, city staff wrote down several deficiencies, such as staining and discolouration. The contractor objected to the city’s analysis, prompting the city to fire back. “It will be more effective to work on resolving the numerous concerns expressed on the architectural concrete quality, taking into account that the architectural concrete pouring is well advanced on the project instead of objecting to this (non-conformance report),” the city wrote.

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According to RTG’s written responses to Citizen questions, the consortium “maintains a rigorous quality management system in accordance to the city’s expectations” and international standards.

The consortium couldn’t provide information on the number of non-compliance reports that have been generated on the project, the number of subcontractors on the project and whether any subcontractors have been removed because of the quantity of deficiencies or the quality of workmanship.

The city recently retained an independent safety auditor, TÜV Rheinland, to make sure the LRT system has been designed, constructed and commissioned to safety standards. It’s not an unusual step. The firm will be working until the trains start carrying passengers at some point in 2018.

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Cripps said his office is happy with the quality of construction on the Confederation Line LRT so far.

“When we do audits we’ll always find some things, but there hasn’t been anything of substance that shows a major breakdown in their (quality control) systems,” Cripps said. “That’s really what it’s all about, having the systems in place and the people to implement those systems.”

• There were broken anchor bolts on an overhead wire pole in a yard at the maintenance and storage facility. They were struck by heavy machinery in several locations.

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• In a report considered “major,” an inspector found a duct bank wall poured in the wrong location at the maintenance and storage facility. It had to be demolished and relocated.

• At the maintenance and storage building, an inspector found an improper installation of gas line entry points on the roof and damage on the waterproof membrane. Even the remedial work wasn’t acceptable, prompting the inspector to suggest a third-party roofing inspection. “Quality of workmanship would be the main deficiency in this case,” the report said.

Other times, inspectors flagged the aesthetics of completed work:

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• A finished concrete slab on the maintenance and storage facility connector line was found to have boot and equipment indentations. Workers should be careful walking around freshly poured concrete and not use a wet concrete surface, the inspector suggested.

Some inspections provided lessons for workers to take better precautions:

• When four vertical bars were bent by moving equipment at Hurdman station, an inspector suggesting using traffic and safety cones around structures for temporary protection.

• There were weld failures at the maintenance and storage facility yard, with the constructor’s inspector calling a subcontractor’s inability to get it right “unacceptable.”

• In another case, workers were found using inappropriate wooden spacers in the walls at Rideau station. Lack of training was listed as one of the root causes.

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